Our Favorite Ready-to-eat Proteins

Our very first love is roast chicken.

Though she doesn’t love to cook, my mom made shabbat dinner every Friday night, which invariably included some type of roast chicken. Likewise, any family gathering was unthinkable without a roast chicken, and I learned how to pick the bones clean with my aunt. And, as I grew older and developed my own culinary repertoire, I discovered my culinary hero - Ina Garten - also cannot resist a roast chicken. Even now, I find the dish so comforting that it would be last meal, albeit spatchcocked and roasted over a bed of potatoes.

But, alas I often don’t have time to roast my own chicken, and instead rely on store-bought rotisseries for my chicken fix. The meat gets pulled and used myriad ways, the bones go into a quick stock, while the skin gets roasted and eaten as a delightfully crispy treat by both and my dog and me. Rotisserie chicken is just one cooked protein we like to keep on hand; as we’ve mentioned many times, our key to weeknight dinner success is having a bunch of ready-to-eat and easy to prepare ingredients on hand. That way, when mealtime rolls around, half the work is done for you, and you just have to pull your items together. Read on for the ready-to-eat proteins we keep on hand.

Pulled (or not) rotisserie chicken

As mentioned above, we love a rotisserie chicken. While we often buy a whole one (pro tip: shredded chicken freezes and defrosts well if you have some leftover), we just as often buy the pre-shredded meat if we can find it. We toss it in soups, stuff it into quesadillas, or throw it on top of our grain bowls. It’s also featured in our sesame noodle recipe.

Cooked sausage

As with roast chicken, we’ve spoken frequently about our fondness for pre-cooked sausage. Our go-to brand is Amylu - we love their products and their story, and usually have at least one of their varieties in our fridge or freezer. We used their sausage in our Sheet Pan Sausage and Baby Pepps, but we also toss it with pasta and use it to gussy up frozen pizza.

Frozen meatballs

While our first love may be roast chicken, our little girl’s first love is frozen meatballs. We recently discovered Simek’s (our favorite is the classic turkey), and now have them in the freezer at all times. We toss them with a jar of Bunny O’s for a quick toddler dinner, but also use them for more grown-up fare - say cheater’s Italian wedding soup.

Baked Tofu

We’re partial to baked or extra firm tofu (our preferred brand is Wildwood). For a super quick dinner, we cube or slice ours, toss it with some pre-sliced mushrooms (shiitakes if you can find them) and some haricot vert, drizzle with a little soy sauce and little sesame oil, then spread everything on a sheet pan, and roast for about 20 minutes at 425. Serve on top of rice, garnished with a lil chile crisp.

Canned or Tinned Fish

No list on ready-to-eat proteins would be complete without a mention of canned or tinned fish. We’re partial to oil-packed tuna for easy salads and sammies, but it also folds nicely into pasta. We also lump smoked salmon into the tinned/canned category, and often use it the same way we would tuna, and you know, on top of bagels.

Chicken Tenders or Nuggets

Not that you need it, but we grant you permission to eat chicken tenders and nuggets without guilt. Universally beloved and inexplicably satisfying, we reach for chicken nuggets often. They’re featured in our chicken tendie bowl, and we often make ourselves a quick lunch of air-fried chicken nuggets and sliced cucumber and celery. However, in our opinion, the only chicken nuggets that matter are from Just Bare,

Beans

We talked a bit about beans here so won’t go into another deep dive, but do encourage you to give this often overlooked pantry staple another look.